Welcome to Mystic Falls
by Jade2099
Summary: May 23, 2009 was a night that Elena Gilbert would never forget, but couldn't remember.    Magic has consequences and when she finally does remember it changes everything.  Canon through S3 Ep14.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Vampire Diaries. I am not LJ Smith, Julie Plec (though we share a first name), Kevin Williamson, or any of the other phenomenal writers of the CW show.

**Author's Note:** Yes…I'm rewriting this…again. Promise…won't rewrite it again. After the finale I decided that I wanted to revisit this one and tell my story of Damon/Elena my own way. Hope you still enjoy it and I apologize for the crazy rewrites.

Italics signal flashbacks and/or inner thoughts. If it's not clear, let me know.

**Summary:** May 23, 2009 was a night that Elena Gilbert would never forget, but couldn't _remember_. Magic has _consequences_ and when she finally does remember it changes _everything_.

**Soundtrack:** Adele – Hometown Glory

_**May 23, 2009**_

_Doppelganger. _ Her heart clenched painfully each time the word echoed through her mind, her father's voice cold, calculated and detached as he described in minute detail how she was part of an ancient bloodline sustained to maintain the balance of nature. _Balance of nature._ The concept was simple. A tiny change in the population of a species will affect all other species in the community. Werewolves threatened the tiny human settlement over a thousand years ago and inadvertently killed one of the Original children. In retaliation, the Original Witch drew from the darkest of magic to create the spell that would ensure the survival of her family. The birth of vampires would balance nature until a time when the appearance of the Doppelganger gave _either_ side the means to end the other. _A harbinger of death._

The Curse of the Sun and the Moon was legendary in supernatural circles and that the Founder's Council knew _nothing_ about it gave her little comfort. Death was inevitable. _Mine_. Rising to her feet, she crossed her bedroom in three steps and climbed on top of her window seat, hands grasping for the lock. A warm, summer breeze washed over her as she gently pushed open the double windows leading to the roof inches from a large oak tree. With a single furtive look over her shoulder, she swung her legs over the threshold and easily slipped out her bedroom window. A part of her knew that her role in the supernatural extended far beyond being a member of the Founding Families. Every time she picked up the small, brown leather journal she was transported to a time over a hundred years ago when Katherine Pierce first set foot in Mystic Falls. The existence of vampires, werewolves and witches did nothing to rattle her but to know that she was inextricably linked to the most selfish, devious and feared vampire to ever set foot in this town made her skin crawl. She had to get out of her room or she would lose what little hold on her sanity that she had left. _To hell with Family Night. The bonfire is tonight._

_*DE*DE*DE*DE*DE*_

_Home, sweet home._ Twisting the large, ornate ring on his finger he felt the familiar stirring of nostalgia creep into his thoughts as he walked slowly past the "Welcome" sign that boasted: "Visit Once, Stay Forever." _Forever is a long time_. The last time he'd set foot in Mystic Falls, Virginia was shortly after the turn of the century and it marked the death of his _humanity_. Every ounce of fear, hatred, and sorrow disappeared leaving in its wake a raw power that he'd sought to control. Control he had in spades. His brother, on the other hand, managed to get through life hanging by a thread that could snap at any moment. S_tefan._

Nearly 15 years passed since he'd last seen his brother's furrowed brow, marred by a sense of guilt for his _many_ wrongdoings. _Saint Stefan_. He was the brother that could do no wrong in the eyes of their father and anyone else that met him. It shouldn't have rekindled the flame of anger that dimmed over time, but the wound was still raw and the emotional baggage between them never resolved. Their childhood was rife with moments where _he_ had borne the brunt of punishment for misdeeds of one Stefan Salvatore, usually at the end of his father's switch.

Phantom pain lanced through his body, a twist of pain in his chest nearly bringing him to his knees, and his eyes shifted to obsidian as the emotions associate with those memories seeped into his conscious mind. Fighting the brief dance with humanity, he added this to the laundry list of things he blamed on his brother. He had long ago vowed to make eternity for Stefan a living hell and he had spent every, waking moment of the last 145 years ensuring that vow came to fruition. The day of reckoning was upon them and that Mystic Falls happened to be where it all happened was more than a little poetic.

*DE*DE*DE*DE*

She had been walking for hours. Or minutes. Or was it seconds? Her feet carried her as far away from 2104 Maple Street as humanly possible. _Human. _Well, she wasn't _human_ anymore, was she? Was she ever? The air around her seemed electric, her entire body coiled like a spring as she swallowed the sob in her throat in favor of allowing her anger to consume her. _Adopted_. He wouldn't tell her anything beyond that single word. He'd folded his arms across his chest, daring her to behave as a child and demand the full version of how she came to live with Grayson and Miranda Gilbert. It was too much to process. He wouldn't even give her answers. _Elena, this is your path to follow. I've said all I can._ She wanted to scream, rage, claw, bite, kick, spit, and crawl under her giant, white comforter in an attempt to wake up from the nightmare.

_No!_ Her inner voice all but railed against her thoughts of helplessness and reminded her that _she _was made of tougher stock than that. _She_ wasn't going to allow herself to break! _She _was Elena Gilbert. Cheerleader. One of Mystic Falls' Founding Families. She was cunning, ruthless when it came to those she loved, and would not allow this to define her or destroy her. Whatever her role in what was to come, she wouldn't sit back and _wait_ for it. She _couldn't_ sit back and wait for it because once it was here; once _Klaus_ set foot in Mystic Falls it would be too late.

*DE*DE*DE*DE*DE*DE*

Taking in another unnecessary breath he turned his gaze toward the sky, his eyes, the color of ice, shadowed by the darkness of the moon gave them an inhuman quality. He smirked in the darkness having long since divulged himself of pesky _human_ constraints. The man he was ceased to exist the moment his brother forced eternity upon him. He would have his revenge the moment he returned to Fell's Church, the place where it all began, and released the woman he had thought about every day for 145 years. He looked to the sky and reached out into the darkness, searching for a shift in the balance of nature that might signal another of his kind. He knew that his brother was out there; undoubtedly returning to check in on the _last_ of their _human_ relatives, but in that sweet moment of blissful emptiness as the cherry trees rustled in the soft breeze he caught the heady scent of _humans_ with just a hint of bourbon. _My two favorite flavors_.

A devious smirk twisted at his lips, his eyes opening once again as he seemed to turn instinctively toward the scent of his prey. _A veritable smorgasbord._ It appeared as though luck was on his side tonight. _For once_.

*DE*DE*DE*DE*DE*DE*DE*

She turned her gaze up to the heavens and cursed her luck. _A new moon._ It wouldn't provide much light, but as she looked up at one of the oldest remaining structures in Mystic Falls she felt the familiar tug at her navel that seemed to call her toward the woods that skirted the property. The massive Tudor home boasted several tall, thin trees, an impeccably landscaped yard and, at the moment, was completely devoid of light. Despite the warm breeze of this May evening, Elena wrapped her arms around her body as a chill raced down her spine. As her eyes shifted toward the woods adjacent to the property, Elena's thoughts drifted to the stories she'd devoured upon learning about the history of Mystic Falls. The Salvatore Boarding House was the last remaining piece of a family that lost its legacy 145 years before after the Battle of Willow Creek where Stefan and Damon Salvatore died tragically in the crossfire of Union and Confederate soldiers. _Katherine Pierce – Katerina _Petrova_. _Her arrival in Mystic Falls in 1864 set into motion events that would culminate in the return of the comet a few months from now.

When her father had allowed her to review Jonathan Gilbert's journals the previous summer while at the lake house, Elena became enamored with the story of the Salvatore brothers. It was a tragic story that tugged at her heart. She often found herself traversing the woods, drawn to the ruins of the original home and combed the grounds for anything that might help her understand the familial bonds that were shattered by a single woman. It was a pure coincidence that she'd uncovered several loose bricks in what would have been the central fireplace, but her fingers had pried them away with such joyous abandon that she'd lost all track of time. As her fingers brushed what felt like paper, her father had called out for her with an underlying tone that caused her stomach to sink in dread. He'd forbidden her from ever setting foot on this property and went so far as to explain that the caretaker of the Salvatore property would charge her with trespassing were she to be caught meddling. In less than a day she'd found herself knee deep in mud and dirt devouring every single word that lined the faded pages of the journal she'd liberated from the fireplace. _Damon Salvatore. _The faded black and white photograph of a raven-haired man dressed in full Confederate uniform had seen better days, but Elena found herself running her index finger along the outline of his body more often than she would admit.

He'd become a vampire after being forced to transition by his brother Stefan. The first half of the journal spoke of his love of Katherine Pierce while the latter half focused on his anger and feelings of betrayal at being forced to turn without Katherine by his side. He blamed his brother and in the end, the elder Salvatore chose to leave Mystic Falls. She'd kept the information from the Council, though she knew her parents were well aware of the truth that the Salvatores were not _dead_ as reported in the town Archives. Their story spoke to her in a way that she couldn't understand and probably wouldn't in her lifetime, but something about the way Damon Salvatore looked in that photograph made her want to protect him even though she knew that he would undoubtedly not hesitate to end her life were their paths to ever cross.

Elena was so lost in thought that she'd somehow managed to make her way to the other side of the Salvatore property and along a country road leading to the only club in a ten-mile radius of Mystic Falls that allowed anyone in over the age of sixteen, _Club Midnight_. After the emotional upheaval of the day, all she wanted to do was let off some steam and this was the perfect place to do it.

So few of her friends and acquaintances came out this way, their parents preferring they stay at Mystic Grille on school nights, and it allowed Elena a bit of anonymity. Placing her palm flat against the cool, glass door of the club she pushed against it and allowed the warm night air to mingle with the sweltering heat inside the building. The rush of humidity, the smell of sweat and alcohol, and the steady thrum of the alternative club beat were a heady mixture that instantly washed her troubles away. As she stepped inside she felt a mischievous grin tug at the corners of her mouth, a sea of people before her swaying to the beat in various states of awareness and dress laid out before her as she buried everything she felt about tonight's big reveal. Yes, Elena Gilbert was going to forget every, single thing about this day.


End file.
